The exception, I must add, is if your mouth happens to belong to Marc Gold, whose love for horseradish and the Mets are one and the same.

That's because the affable 65-year-old Gold helps run a company (Gold's Pure Food Products) that not only manufactures horseradish, borscht, mustard and ketchup but also maintains a repository for Mets memorabilia -- much of it in his head.

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As youthful fans go, Marc, The Horseradish Man, became the original, unadulterated Mets cashew, first-class. His mother, Norma -- still a rare beauty, going on 90-years-old -- will tell you that when her son was supposed to be doing his homework, he was publishing the world's first Mets newsletter.

Nobody else can make that statement; not even Yogi Berra nor John Kerry.

"When my Dodgers left Brooklyn," Gold remembers, "I was eleven-years-old and all of a sudden I had nothing to do but root against the Yankees.

"I have to tell you that it was emotionally devastating to be rooting for someone to lose."

Very conveniently, the Mets came along and relieved Marc of his hate-the-Yankees burden. Not yet bar mitzvahed, he realized that he has newspapering in his Mets-loving blood and right away a rather non-objective but enthusiastic newsletter, Met Maze., was hitting the stands; as in Polo Grounds grandstands.

This was in May 1962 and the literary gem came rolling off the Gold's Pure Food Products mimeograph machine in his father, Morris', office.

Enthusiasm and passion oozed from issue after issue and now, at age 65, Gold looks back on his never-a-Pulitzer Prize-winner with a blend of nostalgia and pride. While jars of horseradish ketchup and mustard sit behind him, Gold recalls what it was like growing up with the lads from Shea, both favorites and schleppers.

"My favorite Mets of all time has to be the 1986 edition," he allows. "I'll never forget Game Six of the 1986 World Series. To me that was the most incredible game of all."

Of course the sweet feelings of yesteryear have been distilled by some of the bitter moments Marc experienced as a fan. It didn't take him very long to recollect 1962 when his favorites nursed a one-run lead over the St. Louis Cardinals and a routine double-play ball turned into an errant throw right into the stands and the Cards' game-winner.

Fast forward to the year 2000. There's the adult Marc sitting in the Shea Stadium grandstands watching the hated Yankees beat his Mets to win the World Series.

Like it had happened two minutes ago, Gold writhes as he recalls, "Game Five; that was a tough one."

But when you've been a fan for so long it's easy to pick out a "Favorite" nine. Here's how -- and why -- the following list appears on the Marc's All-Met Team.

* FIRST BASE -- ED KRANEPOOL: "We can never forget Kid Kranepool's clutch clouting early in 1963. Hope for the future."

* SECOND BASE -- RON HUNT: "He was the best hitter on those early teams. He was the first legitimate hitter. He was the first All-Star."

* SHORTSTOP -- BUD HARRELSON: "A guy like Tom Seaver needed him. He was the first genuine shortstop that they had play ever day... Harrelson, he was the guy that really bonded the infield."

*THIRD BASE -- HOWARD JOHNSON: "HoJo was a great hitter, home run hitter, turned into a great fielder, played shortstop when he had to. HoJo is my favorite third baseman."

*LEFT FIELD -- FRANK THOMAS: Gold remembered a doubleheader against the Reds back in 1962, a day when Thomas lifted the Mets to a Game 2 victory over one of the best teams in the league. "Frank Thomas ended it in the 14th inning. He hit his incredible home run at the Polo Grounds, into the lights."

* CENTER FIELD -- JIM HICKMAN: "He was the kid with potential. There's a lot of empathy with someone that has potential but doesn't realize it."

*RIGHT FIELD -- RUSTY STAUB: "He was one of the smartest players...He never made a mistake, never made a mental mistake."

* CATCHER -- CHRIS CANNIZZARO: "Couldn't catch, couldn't hit...had a gun for an arm. There was one game when Casey Stengel brought him in as a pinch-catcher." Of course, Gold also tips his hat off to Gary Carter, crediting him for his hard work ethic."

* STARTING PITCHER -- TOM SEAVER: "It's crystal clear that Tom is the number one pitcher."

*RELIEVER -- TUG MCGRAW: "To me, a true 'save' situation is when there are men on base. That's when it's a save situation, not when you start an inning with a three-run lead ... Back in the years of Tug McGraw, Jesse Orosco, and Roger McDowell, those guys would come in with men on base."

As for his favorite manager, Gold wastes no time fingering Gil Hodges.

"Gil had complete control of the clubhouse, complete control of the team," Gold insists. "He should be in the Hall of Fame as a player and as a manager."

I wondered how Marc compares his emotional attachment to the Mets now compared to when he started croaking for them at Shea Stadium.

"When you're a kid, you only can focus 100% on baseball," Gold explains. "Once you have a wife, you can't focus 100%, and it gets a little diluted. Once you have kids, it gets further diluted...Now it's become more of a business."

And while his focus on the game and the team has diminished, he can't ignore his inner 14-year-old fan.

"The emotional involvement is less, but there's still that fan inside of me."

Author-columnist-commentator Stan "The Maven" Fischler resides in Boiceville and New York City. His column appears each week in the Sunday Freeman.